Game machines such as slot machines that pay back tokens such as coins for winning game results are very popular. For slot machines, for example, players start a game by pulling a start lever after putting a token into the slot machine. A plurality (three, for example) of reels with numerous types of symbols arranged on the circumference rotate at high speed in the slot machine, and the prize status is determined by the combination of the symbols on the reels displayed at a given location in the window when the reels have stopped. The number of tokens that are paid out (i.e., the prize status) is determined by the combination of symbols when the reels have stopped. Slot machine prizes typically include "Big Jackpots," where a large number of tokens, such as 1000 or more tokens, for example, are paid back as a result when a bonus game has been awarded, as well as so-called "Little Jackpots" or "Small Jackpots". The player plays the slot machine in anticipation of increasing the number of tokens in the player's possession, but since the number of tokens in the player's possession does not increase all that much with "Small Jackpots," the player plays the slot machine while hoping for a "Big Jackpot" that will quickly increase the number of tokens in the player's possession.
The type of slot machine in which the prize status is determined by random selection using random numbers for each game is known. In this type of slot machine, the prize status is randomly selected when a token is put into the slot machine and the start lever is pulled, and the current game prize status is determined. When the current game prize status has been determined, the reels are rotated to begin the game. In most slot machines, the player can operate stop buttons provided in the slot machine to stop the reels, but in the type of slot machine in which the prize status is determined by random selection using random numbers for each game, the reels are not stopped immediately when the player actuates the stop buttons, but instead are stopped when the symbols on the reels reach the position corresponding to the prize status previously determined by random selection.
However, it is possible for too much time to pass after the player presses the stop buttons until the reels stop at the prize status that had been previously determined by random selection. This could lead to unnatural reel-stopping operations. In such cases, the reels may be stopped at a point that does not match the prize status previously determined by random selection. In other words, when too much time passes until the reels stop after the player has operated the stop bottons, leading to unnatural reel-stopping operations, the reels are stopped irrespective of the prize status previously determined by random selection. As a result, even when the prize status previously determined by random selection would have been, for example, a "Big Jackpot," the prize status may end up being a "Lose" due to the timing with which the player has actuated the stop buttons. Conversely, when the prize status previously determined by random selection would have been a "Lose," the prize status may end up being a "Big Jackpot" due to the circumstances under which the player actuated the stop buttons.
In the type of slot machines in which the prize status is determined by random selection using random numbers for each game, the prize status is randomly selected when the token has been put into the slot machine and the start lever has been pulled, so the current game prize status is already known when the reels begin to rotate. As described above, the player plays slot machines hoping for a "Big Jackpot" to quickly increase the number of tokens in the player's possession, and when it is known that there is an extremely high probability that the current game will result in a "Big Jackpot" as a result of previous random selection, it may be advantageous to alert the player to that fact. As described above, it is possible that the current game prize status might still end up as a "Lose" due to the timing with which the player actuates with the stop buttons.